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X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:13:40 -0000
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Would be even better if I replied to the list...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Moggers87" <moggers87@???>
Date: Dec 7, 2012 4:11 AM
Subject: Re: [bitfolk] Proposal: Security incidents postings
To: "Andy Smith" <andy@???>
I'd very much appreciate knowing what causes compromises in the real world.
Would be a good reminder to those of us who believe we have secure servers.
On Dec 7, 2012 2:19 AM, "Andy Smith" <andy@???> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> From time to time BitFolk customer VPSes occasionally become subject
> to various kinds of compromise. Frustratingly, the kinds of
> compromise encountered are generally the result of run of the mill,
> completely preventable and unremarkable root causes.
>
> I would like to find a way to raise awareness of these very simple
> security concerns amongst the customer base, in order to hopefully
> cut down on how often they happen.
>
> I was thinking that if customers saw how often these things happen
> to people very much like themselves then it might help remove some
> of the "yeah I've heard of that but it will never happen to me"
> mindset that we all regrettably can fall into.
>
> So I was contemplating posting an email thread to this ("users")
> list every time we become aware of a customer compromise, and I was
> wondering what you thought of that idea.
>
> It might look something like this:
>
> Today at around 04:30 we became aware of a customer VPS
> initiating an abnormal amount of outbound SSH connections (~200
> per second). The VPS's network access was suspended and customer
> contacted.
>
> It was later determined that a user account on the VPS had been
> accessed starting 3 days ago, via an SSH dictionary attack. The
> attacker installed another copy of the SSH dictionary attack
> software and set it going. We do not believe that root access
> was obtained.
>
> The amount of detail would vary because we may only become aware of
> a compromise when the customer's VPS itself starts perpetrating
> abusive activity, and then we rely on the customer to investigate
> why that is.
>
> If the customer is unable/unwilling to do this then we may never
> know why their VPS began misbehaving. We don't examine customer data
> unless given permission to do so, and even then this is often too
> time-consuming to undertake on an unpaid basis. I would consider the
> above an example of the maximum amount of detail we would go into.
>
> No identifying information regarding the affected customer would be
> shared. We already share non-identifying information similar to the
> above to peers within the industry to aid deterrence and detection
> of future abuses.
>
> Would this sort of posting be welcomed or would it be unwelcome
> noise? If the consensus is that it would be unwelcome noise then I
> may create a new list specifically for it, but I would rather not do
> so as then that is just another list that we have to raise awareness
> of.
>
> Please also note that those with an extremely low tolerance for
> email noise may wish to quit this list and instead join the
> "announce" list, as it contains only announcements from BitFolk with
> no customer discussion whatsoever:
>
> https://lists.bitfolk.com/mailman/listinfo/announce
> http://lists.bitfolk.com/lurker/list/announce.html
>
> (just 19 threads this year)
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Cheers,
> Andy
>
> --
> http://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting
>
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